Published 11:32 am, Sunday, May 25, 2014

At its helm is founder Jack Ma, a charismatic leader who started the company with 18 friends out of his small apartment in 1999. Although Ma is no longer CEO of Alibaba, he's still the face of the company.

Ma has succeeded because he is relentless, and some of his more memorable quotes — "Today is cruel, tomorrow is crueler" — illustrate how that relentlessness has formed his thinking.

On not giving up: "Today is cruel. Tomorrow is crueler. And the day after tomorrow is beautiful."